The Welders to Present THE CAROLINA LAYAWAY GRAIL, Begin. 3/22

The Welders-Washington's only playwrights' collective devoted exclusively to developing and producing new work-have launched their inaugural production. The Carolina Layaway Grail, a new play by Allyson Currin, opens March 22, 2014 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center under the direction of Sonya Robbins.

Currin began writing the post-modern comedy-set in a world peopled with sorcerers, villains, and incompetent bureaucrats-after a particularly frustrating trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"I don't think that anyone ever has a particularly good experience with their DMV," Currin said. "No matter how well you prepare, you're never able to figure out exactly what the rules are. And I was interested in writing a play that dances between comic chaos and authentic danger. Ultimately, it's a play about finding home...and rediscovering the power of a true place in the world."

Currin is also serving as The Welders' Artistic Director for the duration of the production, which features D.C. actors Nora Achrati, MJ Casey, Nick DePinto, Karen Lange, Jaysen Wright, and Jacob Yeh.

The Carolina Layaway Grail will run March 22 - April 4, 2014 at The Atlas Performing Arts Center. Previews begin March 20, 2014. Tickets can be purchased here.

Allyson Currin (Playwright and Artistic Director) is the author of over twenty plays including Caesar and Dada (WSC Avant Bard), Hercules in Russia (Doorway Arts Ensemble), Treadwell: Bright and Dark (The American Century Theatre), Unleashed (The Kennedy Center), The Dancing Princesses (Imagination Stage), Benched (Pinky Swear Productions), Love and Whiskey (Equity Workshop), Church of the Open Mind* and The Subject (Charter Theatre), Learning Curves (Washington Shakespeare Company), Amstel in Tel Aviv* and Dancing With Ourselves (Source Theatre Company). *She has twice been nominated for the Helen Hayes' Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play and has been Playwright-in-Residence with First Draft at Charter Theatre and Theater J's "Locally Grown" Initiative. She is currently working on a new musical with Matt Conner for Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre, and a new commissioned play for Cincinnati Playhouse.

Sonya Robbins (Director) Sonya Robbins is a director, dramaturg, and long-time arts education program director in both theaters and schools. Notable accomplishments include a production (co-conceived with the playwright) of Obie-winner Rinde Eckert's musical Highway Ulysses, the Midwest premieres of works by Suzan-Lori Parks and Margaret Edson, as well as acclaimed productions of numerous works by emerging playwrights. In Cleveland, she helped to start an award-winning company, Moving Spaces, and directed numerous productions including: Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard, How I Learned to Drive, Refuge, W;T, Seven Ages of Man, A Number and Three Days of Rain. Ms. Robbins also served as Education Director at Dobama Theatre where she produced and directed the oldest children's playwriting festival in the nation. She most recently directed Brian Oglesby's Nebraska by Noon for Taffety Punk and Volcanic in Origin for the Source Festival. Ms. Robbins works at The Kennedy Center where she manages programs for emerging artists with disabilities and lives in the District of Columbia with her husband and her three children.

To post a comment, you must register and login.